Elgar kept silence.

“Now let me give you another version of that story,” Cecily continued.  “To-night she has been telling me about herself.  She says that she left home because her husband was unfaithful to her.  I think the reason quite sufficient, and I told her so.  But there is something more.  She has again been driven away.  She has come to live at Hampstead because her home is intolerable, and she says that nothing will ever induce her to return.”

“And this has been the subject of your conversation as you drove back?  Then I think such an acquaintance is very unsatisfactory, and it must come to an end.”

“Please to tell me why you spoke just now as if Mrs. Travis were to blame.”

“I have heard that she was.”

“Heard from whom?”

“That doesn’t matter.  There’s a doubt about it, and she’s no companion for you.”

“As you think it necessary to lay commands on me, I shall of course obey you.  But I believe Mrs. Travis is wronged by the rumours you have heard; I believe she acted then, and has done now, just as it behoved her to.”

“And you have been encouraging her?”

“Yes, on the assumption that she told me the truth.  She asked if she might come and see me, and I told her to do so whenever she wished.  I needn’t say that I shall write and withdraw this invitation.”

Elgar hesitated before replying.

“I’m afraid you can’t do that.  You have tact enough to end the acquaintance gradually.”

“Indeed I have not, Reuben.  I either condemn her or pity her; I can’t shuffle contemptibly between the two.”

“Of course you prefer to pity her!” he exclaimed impatiently.  “There comes in the idealism of which I was speaking.  The vulgar woman’s instinct would be to condemn her; naturally enough, you take the opposite course.  You like to think nobly of people, with the result that more often than not you will be wrong.  You don’t know the world.”

“And I am very young; pray finish the formula.  But why do you prefer to take the side of ‘the vulgar woman’ of whom you speak?  I see that you have no evidence against Mrs. Travis; why lean towards condemnation?”

“Well, I’ll put it in another way.  A woman who lives apart from her husband is always amid temptations, always in doubtful circumstances.  Friends who put faith in her may, of course, keep up their intimacy; but a slight acquaintance, and particularly one in your position, will get harm by associating with her.  This is simple and obvious enough.”

“If you knew for certain that she was blameless, you would speak in the same way?”

“If it regarded you, I should.  Not if Mrs. Lessingham were in question.”

“That is a distinction which repeats your distrust.  We won’t say any more about it.  I will bear in mind my want of experience, and in future never act without consulting you.”

She moved towards the door.